NAB arrests two for ‘facilitating illegal tax refunds’

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi, on Wednesday announced the arrest of two men who were allegedly helping a local firm, M/s Shayan International, in acquiring illegal tax refunds through fake invoices.

Inam Butt and Syed Ali Jawad were arrested in the remits of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and they were involved in causing a loss worth Rs111.477 million to the national exchequer, a NAB statement said. 

While working as agents, the two had been working with connivance of Karachi’s Federal Bureau of Revenue officials and owners of bogus and non-existent firms, it added. They manipulated requisite records on the basis of fake, bogus and forged documents for their personal gain and profit of FBR officials, the statement alleged. The two were said to have confessed to running a racket of organised criminals, including bogus firms, for acquiring illegal refunds.

According to the city’s NAB officials, interrogations are likely to lead to arrests of other members of the racket, including FBR officers, as well as private agents. The accused were arrested on Tuesday evening they would soon be produced before an accountability court, it added. The relevant reference was said to have involved eight others, including private persons and FBR officials. Of them, one accused was said to be already arrested and under judicial custody.

Three suspects held

The Sindh Rangers claimed to have arrested three criminals in raids in the city.The spokesman for the paramilitary force said a team conducted a raid in New Karachi’s industrial area and detained a criminal, Saeed Muhammad.

The suspect was alleged to be involved in wall-chalking, extortion and several other crimes, besides being affiliated with the MQM-London.  Paramilitary soldiers carried out a raid in Shorab Goth and arrested two men, Wazir Ali Abaro and Muhammad Azeem Wazir, who were said to be involved in inciting members of the public against the country and law enforcement agencies through speeches in Shikarpur and Hyderabad. Wazir was also allegedly involved in murders and several other crimes. The Rangers seized weapons, ammunition and drugs from the possession of the detainees and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.